OF EUROPES GREATS...
7
complete in 1973 when they beaten Juventus
1 -0 in Belgrade with Johnny Rep scoring.
Cruyff was the star and the inspiration, but he
was surrounded with many fine players Wim
Suurbier, Rudi Krol, Arie Haan, Gerrie Muhren
(older brother of Arnold), Johan Neeskens,
Johnny Rep and Piet Keizer.
Their trademark was the total football system
which involved taking advantage of a generation
of skillful footballers whose versitily and football
intelligence allowed a bewildering inter-change
of positioning. It was style which nearly earned
the Dutch national side the games highest prize.
But the national side, built around the Ajax
stars, lost both the World Cup Finals of 1974
and 1978 and the great days were over.
The greatest days for Ajax had ended in the
summer of 1973 when Cruyff left to join
Michels at Barcelona for then a world record
£922,000 transfer fee. A year later Johan
Neeskens joined Cruyff at Barcelona. They were
knocked out of Europe in the first round as they
went for four in a row.
At the end of season 1973-74 all they had to
show was the European Super Cup after
thrashing AC Milan 6-1 on aggregate. The next
few years were to be a quiet period at European
level by Ajax standards although at home they
lifted he title in 1977, 1979 and 1980 and the
cup in 1979. They began to introduce more
world class players such as Arnesan and Lerby.
It took the home coming of Johan Cruyff to
begin the 1 980's revival. That was in December
1981 when he returned from U.S.A. where he
played for Los Angeles Aztecs, New York
Cosmos and Washington Diplomats in the
NASL.
When Cruyff returned, Ajax were trailing PSV
Eindhoven in the league but by the end of the
season they won the league by five points and
Cruyff inspired Ajax to a Dutch league scoring
record of 117 goals with Wim Keift scoring 32
of them. With the prodigal son as the new
leader, Ajax retained their title, their 21st in all,
and completed the double for the 4th time. But
the spectre of the great 70's teams hung over
Ajax and they failed to make an impact in
Europe going out to Celtic in the first round
despite having players in the calibre of Frank
Rijkaard, Jan Molby, Jesper Olsen, Wim Kieft
and Gerald Vanenburg. At the end of season
1982-83, Johan Cruyff moved to rivals
Feyenoord to finish his playing carrer.
The promising youngsters moved on and Ajax
began to bring yet another group of promising
youngsters through. Players like Marco Van
Basten helped Ajax to the League title in
seasonn 1984-85 but the most significant event
of the year was made by the board who
appointed Johan Cruyff as Technical Director.
Ajax won the cup the following season when
they defeated Roosendaal 3-0 and this set them
up for a European run. They ended a 14 year
wait when a goal from Marco Van Basten gave
them victory over East German side Lokomotiv
Leipzig.
At home they retained the Dutch Cup with a
victory over Den Haag but this final raised fears
of violence because of riots that had occurred in
the league meetings between the two sides. For
this reason it was very difficult to find a city
willing to stage the final.
The KNVB even considered playing the final
behind closed doors but the Mayor of The
Hague allowed of 8,500. In the league they
finished runners-up to PSV Eindhoven. Johan
Cruyff lead his side to the Cup Winners Cup
Final for the second year in a row in season
1987-88 but they lost their title to the unknown
Belgian side KV Mechelen.
ruyff decided to move to Barcelona in the
summer of 1988 and this signalled yet another
rebuilding job for Ajax.
Season 1988-89 started disastrously under
new boss Kurt Linder but then Splitz Kohn took
over as caretaker manager and did an excellent
job in starting to rebuid the Ajax side which
finished runners-up to PSV Eindhoven. However,
then Ajax decided to appoint Leo Beenhakker as
Technical Director after he was released as boss
of Real Madrid. Leo Benhakker saw the
opportunity to take Ajax back to the top
amongst Europe's elite but his dreams faded
when the hooliganism problem which seems to
be ruining Dutch football raised its ugly head
during their U.E.F.A. Cup first round, second leg
tie with Austria Vienna. During extra time the
match had to be abandoned following several
incidents in which an assortment of missiles
were thrown at the Austrian goalkeeper. Ajax
have since been banned for a season from
European football by U.E.F.A. and as we will all
see tonight, Europe will be without some of the
most skillful players in Dutch football next
season.
PROGRAMME EDITOR:
ANDREW H. SMITH
CONTRIBUTORS:
Tom McGouran, Bob MacDonald, Martin
Jordan, David Williamson (Edin. No. 1
Ajax Supporters Club) and thanks to Ajax
for photos and information.